Hand bottle capper



Jan. 2; 1945. H A. HARDER 2,366,524

HAND BOTTLE CAPPER4 y *l/Zri, 4

i a l Harman Him/gr y Jan 2, 1945. H. A. HARDER 2,366,524`

HAND BOTTLE CAPPER Filed oct. 15, 1942 3 sheets-sheet 2 Jan. 2, 1945.. H A HARDER I i 2,366,524

HAND BOTTLE CAPPER www@ @CW 5M Patented Jan. 2, 1945 UNITED( STAT Es PATENT OFFICE HANnBoTTLE CAPPER f HerinanfA. Harder, Milwaukee,` Wis. Application October 15, 1942, Serial No. 462,147

8 Claims. (Cl. 226-92) This invention relates to bottle capping apparatus and refers particularly to a portable hand capper especially adapted for use in dairies for `capping odd sizedbottles of which the quantity handled is not suificient to Warrant provision for automatic capping.

One of the objects of this'nvention is to proing the plunger depressed and the cap applied to the bottle; and

Figure is a longitudinal sectional view taken through FigLu'e 2 on the plane of the line 5-5.

Referring now particularly to the accompanying`drawings, in which like numerals indicate vide a hand capper of the character described` which is light and although fully self contained, that is, carries its own cap magazine, can be read- -ilyhandled and manipulated.

Another object of this invention is to provide a capper of the character described wherein the` handles by which itis carried and manipulated are substantially symmetrically arranged at opposite sides `of the axis of the cap applying plunger so that the `capping pressure -is centered over the plunger."

` Another object of this invention is to provide a hand bottle capper wherein the feeding of the caps from the magazine into position forapplication to the bottles is effected by merely pivot-` ally moving one of a pairof pivotally connected handles both of whichare connected to the plunger to apply the capping pressure thereto.

Still another object of this invention is to pro`` vide a hand bottle capper which is inexpensive;

simple in design, and sufficiently rugged to withstand the rough handling to which al deviceofA this character would be subjected. j i

' With the above and other objects in i view which will appear as the description proceeds, this invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially as hereinafterdescribed and more particulike parts, the numeral 5 designates :the base of the capper which is substantially a flat wall having a round hole 6 therethrough and a cap magazine l mounted thereon alongside the hole 6.

The hole 6 forms a cap guideway through which caps are individually pushed for application to the bottles.

Three downwardly projecting lugs 8 on the underside of the base embrace themouths of the bottles to center the base thereon with its hole 6 coaxial with the bottle mouth.` It is, of course,

to be understood that the capper is designed for onlyzonecap size.` i.

Reciprocally mounted above the hole 6 and 'coaxially therewith is a plunger 9 the stem vIl) of i which slides in the bore of the vertical hub II connected by spider arms I2 with the base. This plunger support may be made separately of the base and screwed thereto or it may be cast in.

tegrally with the base. In any event, the plunger 9 is guided thereby for reciprocation coaxially of the cap guideway provided by the hole 6, and to prevent rotation of the plunger for apurpcse` to be hereinafter described, a pin I3 Xecl therein extends upwardly from the plunger to be slid- 1 in one of the spider ablyreceived in a bore I4 larly defined by the appended claims, `it being understood that suchchanges in the precise embodiment of the hereindisclosed invention `may be made as come within the scope of the claims.l The accompanying drawings illustrate one complete exampleof the physical embodiment of the` invention `constructed according to the best mode i so far devised for the practical application of` the principles thereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bottle capper constructed in accordance with this invention and illustrating its manner of use;

Figure Eis a top plan view of the capper with part of its handles broken away; I

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through Figure 2 substantially on `the plane of the line 3-3, and showing the plunger Vraised and a `cap in position` thereunder;

Figure 4 is a viewsimilar to Figure 3 but show` The upper end of vthe plunger stem IIl which projects above the hub I I has two handles I5 and I6connected therewith and extending substantially in opposite directions so that downward force applied to the handles is centered over the plunger. I I 40 The handle I5 is pinned to the plunger stem as at I'I and as the plunger is restrained against rotation it follows thatthis handle is held against turning about the plunger axis. The handle I6,

handle I6 is utilized to successivelyslide the. lowermost cap in the magazine 'I into the cap guideway 6 under the plunger. To this end the' handle I6 has a lever arm 22 formed integrally therewith and extending downwardly and out- Thus, by pivotal movement of the handle I6 the arm 25 may be oscillated about the axis of its mounting. l

The mounting of the arm or lever 25, as best illustrated in Figure 4, consists of a stud or pin 26 anchored in the base and projecting upwardly therefrom, `A .boss 2T Loh the underside of the base provides increased length for the bore in which the pin 26 is stepped. Freely rotatably mounted on the pin or stud 26 is a sleeve 28 the upper end of which is reduced in diameter and has the lever arm 25 mounted thereon.A

The angular position of the arm 25 with respect to the sleeve 28 must be adjustable and vhence;v

set screws 3Il lock the lever arm to the sleeve28.

The lower end of the sleeve 28 has a push-olf the capper being then lsupported by the topk of the plunger coming against the underside of the spider arms I2. In this position the Pivoted hand1e rI6 may be readily manipulated to slide-a cap into position under the plunger. Hence the sim-V ple act of lifting the capper 01T the bottle at the completion of its capping operation automatically sets the stage for the next cycle.

From the foregoing description, taken in con nectionwith the accompanying drawings, it will be readily apparent tolthose` skilled` in the art, that this invention provides an exceedingly handy bottle capper which is admirably suited for short army 3I fixed thereto by a headed drive screw 32.

The push-off arm is a thin, flat, curved' member adapted to swingedgewise vacross the bottom ci the cap magazineto slide rthe lowermost cap in the magazine into the. guideway I5. The side of the cap magazine facing the.V mounting of the pushoff arm 3I is spaced from the base to accommodate the arm and a similar space provides the necessary discharge port 33 through which the caps are singly slid into the hole 6.

f vTo `properlygudethe caps as they are fed through thedischarge port 33 the top of the base is milled to provide a slideway 34 the side edges 'of vwhich are tangent with the` walls of the bore i 'In use itis, of course, necessary that a cap be slidfrom the magazine and deposited under the runs of special sized bottles as, .for instance, the type used by dairies for cottage cheese. i

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A` hand bottle capper comprising: a base having an apertured portion adapted to fit the mouth of a bottle; a plunger reciprocally mounted on the base and projectible through the aperture therein; a pair of handles attached to the plunger and extending to opposite sides of its axis so that an operator holding thecapper by said two handles may readily apply downward force on the plungerto press a cap through the aperture in the base and onto-the bottle; a` pivotal connection between said handles whereby one ofthe handles is free to swing in a plane parallel to the base; a cap magazine on the base alongside its apertured portionyand a pushoff arm operatively connected with said first designatedhandle andoperable by pivotal movement thereof relative to the otherof plunger so 'that downward pressure on the plunger may press the cap onto the mouth of the bottle, This, as alreadypointed out, is accomplished by swinging thehandle I6 about its pivotal connection With the plunger stem and with respect to the other lhandle I5 to actuate the push-off arm 3|. i i

The throwof the push-off arm 3l must be accurately adjusted so that in its retracted position,- shown in `dotted lines in Figure. 2 and at which time the handle I6 Vis swung to the rear or toward the magazine, it shall clear the full diam eterof the caps and allow the pile to drop do-wn on'tp'the bottom ofthe magazine, while at the end ofits feeding stroke the arm 3l should stopfin the full line position shown in Figure 2, at which timeit has just pushed a cap intothe hole E. y j

Having properlyset the angular relationship between the push-olf arm 3I and the lever25` by jmeansgof the set screws 30, the final'adjustment for the throw of. the push-ofarm 3l is effected by the set screws I8 and I9. y

Naturallm it is undesirable to permit feeding a1 cap fromthe magazine when the plunger is.

lowered and to this en d thetop of the plunger is formed withanabutmen-t 35 which, in theloWered positionv o f the plunger shown in Figures e and 5,

forms an obstruction lyinguacross the discharge port of the mechanism. To maintain this obstruction properly aligned with the discharge port is the function of the pin, I3 which slides inl the vbore I4 and thus `holds the plunger against turning. i y

An advantageof the capper of this invention results from the fact that rthe handles are atl tached tothe plunger. Hence, when` the capper. is supported by the "handlesnthe plunger' is autoy` matically inits elevated positiom theweight-of `said handlesv to slide thel'lowermost cap in the magazine under the plunger; 'said positioning of the cap under the plunger requiringthe plunger to be in its elevated position with respect to the base and said relationship being automatically secured by virtue of the weight of the capper being supported from the plunger when the capper isv lifted off a bottle whereby positioning of the caps under the plunger may be effected while the operator is moving the capper fromone bottleto another.

2.- Ahand bottle capper of the character described comprising: a basehaving ahole therethrough providing a cap guideway through which caps may be pushed for application onto bottles;

means for centering the base on the mouth, of a bottle withits cap guideway in alignment 'therewith; a plunger reciprocally mounted on the base in line with the cap guideway for pushing a cap through the guideway and onto the mouth 'of a bott-1e; a handle xed to the plunger by which it may' be reciprocated with respect to the base; Aa cap magazine on the `base alongside said cap guideway and having a lateral discharge port through which caps may be fed to the cap guideway; means for pushing the lowermost cap inthe magazine through said discharge port; andy a second handle pivotal'ly carried by the plunger posite directions from the vaxisof the plunger so" that downward force appliedthereon is substantia-lly centered over' the plunger; 4and th'eweight of the capper being suspended' from the lplunger ing of they caps from the magazine under the plunger maybe effected'while the capper is Vb'ei'n'g moved from one .bottle to the other.

A hand bottle capper of thecharacter de scr1bed comprising: a base havingahole'therethrough providing a capfguideway'; means'ontlie 4 bottom of the base for embracing the top of a bottle to center the cap guideway over the mouth of the bottle; a plunger reciprocally mounted on the base in line with the cap guideway and operable to push a cap throughthe guideway onto the mouth of a bottle; a cap magazine carried by the base; a discharge port leading from the magazine to the cap guideway through which the lowermost cap in the magazine may be pushed into the cap guideway; oppositely extending relatively movable handles one of which is connected to theplunger in a manner such that the other handle is constrained to motionin a plan parallel with the base; and means operatively connected with the other handle and movable thereby for sliding the `lowermost cap in the magazine through the discharge port and into the cap guideway, such feeding of caps into the cap guideway necessitating the plunger being elevated with respect to the base and the reciprocal mounting of the plunger in the base allowing the base to automatically assume said relationship upon lifting the capper off a bottle so that the cap feeding may be effected before the capper is again in position to apply a cap to a bottle.

4. A hand capper of the character described comprising: a base; a plunger mounted on the base for reciprocation between dened limits; a cap magazine mounted on the base; a discharge port leading from the magazine and positioned to guide caps into the path `of the plunger; mechanismfor feeding caps singly from the magazine through said port and intothe path of the plunger; and a handle structure fixed to the plunger by which downward pressure may be applied to the plunger and by which the entire capper is supported with theV weight of the capper suspended on the plunger to automatically bring the plunger to its raised position, said handle struc-A controlled by oscillation of said handle structure part independently of plunger motion.

i 5. A hand bottle capper comprising: a reciprocal plunger for pressing ycaps individually onto,

the mouths of bottles; means for centeringthe plunger over the mouth of a bottle; Ya cap magazine; means for guiding caps from the magazine toa capping position under the plunger; a pair of handles connected to the plunger, one of which is secured against movement with respect to the` plunger and the other having a degree of swinging movement about an axis parallel with the plunger motion; mechanism operable by swinging movement of said movable handle for individually ,feeding caps from the magazine `to the capping position under the plunger; and means for preventing the feeding of caps from the magazine when the plunger is in its depressed position but not when it is elevated,

er and handles being supported from the plunger when the capper is lifted oi a bottle so that the act of lifting the capper off a bottle automatically places the plunger in its elevated position and 5 `disables the feedpreventing means to allow ancation to the mouths of bottles;` a plunger; means on the base guiding the plunger for reciprocatory motion toward and from the hole in the base and by which the base and all structure thereon is suspended from the plunger when the capper is not seated on a bottle; a cap magazine on the base; a discharge port leading from the magazine and having means for guiding caps to the hole; a pushoff arm mounted on the base to swing across the bottom of the magazine and feed caps singly from the magazine and into said which pressure may be applied on the plun-ger f to move the same toward the hole in the base; and levers fixed with respect to the pushoff arm and the handle and connected by a pin and slot so that pivotal movement of the handle swings the pushoff arm between dened limits.

7. In a, hand capper of the character described: l a. base having a hole therethrough; a plunger Y guideway mounted on the base above said hole; 'a plunger in the hole and having a stem reciprocal in said guideway; handle means `fastened to the stem and by which reciprocation of :the plunger may be effected, the weight of the base and all structure thereon being suspended from the plunger when the capper is picked up by its handlemeans, said handle means includ- 4ing a part `movable relatively to the stem in a plane parallel to the base; and cap feeding means operable by movement of said handle part relatively to `the stem for feeding caps singly into said hole and under the plunger.'

8. In ahand bottle capper of the `character described; a base; a cap magazine carried by the base;ja pair of hingedly `connected handles; a plunger mounted for reciprocation on the base alongside the cap magazine and-having a stem attached to said handles in such a way that one of the handles is nxed with respect to the pnmg; l er while` the other is free to swing between limfits about an axis parallel with the line of reffciprocation of the plunger, the weight of the 'base and all structure thereon being suspended Yfrom the plunger when the capper is lifted by its handles; and means actuated byswinging motion of said first designated handle relative to 0 the other handle for carrying bottle caps from the magazine along the base to a position under the plunger,

HERMAN A. HARDER. 

